Monday, November 21, 2011

A Syrian cameraman was found dead Sunday with his eyes gouged out in the town of al-Qasir, according to several news reports. Ferzat Jarban, who was last seen being arrested, is the first journalist to be killed in Syria since CPJ started documenting journalist fatalities in 1992.

Jarban was filming anti-regime protests in al-Qasir in Homs governorate when authorities arrested him Saturday, local press freedom groups reported, citing witnesses. The next morning, residents found his severely mutilated body on a main road of the town, a member of the opposition Syrian revolutionary council in Homs told the London-based daily Al-Sharq al-Aswat and other news reports said. The council member said Jarban was unharmed at the time of his arrest. According to the Syrian local coordination committee, which documents human rights violations, at least four people were killed by security forces in al-Qasir on Sunday.